Misdiagnosis of Congestive Heart Failure
Misdiagnosis of Congestive Heart Failure
A diagnosis of congestive heart failure may be overlooked or delayed because in some cases there are no symptoms until the condition becomes severe or because symptoms can develop gradually allowing a person to adapt to them. Some symptoms are vague and not specific to congestive heart failure. These include weakness, fatigue, confusion, anxiety and dizziness. These types of symptoms may be attributed to other conditions, such as aging or influenza.
Other symptoms can also be similar to symptoms of other conditions, such as COPD, heart attack, pneumonia, bronchitis, arrhythmia, kidney disease and liver disease....more about Congestive Heart Failure »
Congestive Heart Failure misdiagnosis:
Diagnosis of congestive heart failure requires several tests and a thorough personal and family medical history. It may be misdiagnosed in particularly young people without physical signs (e.g. leg swelling), an obvious cause (e.g. congenital heart defect) or family history of heart disease....more about Congestive Heart Failure »
Alternative diagnoses list for Congestive Heart Failure:
For a diagnosis of Congestive Heart Failure,
the following list of conditions
have been mentioned in sources
as possible alternative diagnoses
to consider during the diagnostic process for Congestive Heart Failure:
Diseases for which Congestive Heart Failure may be an alternative diagnosis
The other diseases for which Congestive Heart Failure
is listed as a possible alternative
diagnosis in their lists include:
Congestive Heart Failure: Hidden Causes Misdiagnosed?
Causes of Congestive Heart Failure may include these medical conditions:
Congestive Heart Failure: Medical Mistakes
Related medical mistakes may include:
Congestive Heart Failure: Undiagnosed Conditions
Commonly undiagnosed conditions in related areas may include:
Common Misdiagnoses and Congestive Heart Failure
Heart attacks can be undiagnosed: Although the most severe symptoms of heart attack are hard to miss,
there are varying degrees of severity.
It is altogether too common for people to die from undiagnosed heart attack, or from delaying too long
to call for emergency help.
The prognosis for treatment is far better for patients treated in the early stages of a heart attack.
The most common misdiagnoses include heartburn, or other less severe causes of chest pain.
See the introduction to heart attack and the symptoms of heart attack.
Heart attacks can be overdiagnosed: Although many people die from heart attacks, there are also
many cases where people fear that they have a heart attack, but actually have something milder.
Some of the conditions which may be causes of chest pain, causing fear of a heart attack, including
an anxiety attack, heartburn, and so on.
See the causes of chest pain and the symptoms of heart attack.
Rare heart condition often undiagnosed: The rare heart condition called long QT syndrome can lead to episodes of palpitations
and rapid heartbeat.
In rare cases, this undiagnosed condition can be fatal.
It should be considered for any unexplained heart rhythm abnormality.
Heart attack can be over-diagnosed: Although heart attack is often undiagnosed,
leading to fatality, it can also be over-diagnosed.
People become concerned that a condition is a heart attack,
whereas there are various less dangerous possibilities.
After all, there are numerous causes of chest pain.
Some of the common conditions where a person may become concerned
about a possible heart attack include a panic attack (which often has
both chest pain and difficulty breathing), and heartburn/reflux type conditions.
Nevertheless, chest pain itself can be a potentially life-threatening symptoms,
and needs immediate professional attention.
Blood pressure cuffs misdiagnose hypertension in children: One known misdiagnosis issue
with hyperension, arises in relation to the simple equipment used to test blood pressure.
The "cuff" around the arm to measure blood pressure can simply be too small to accurately
test a child's blood pressure.
This can lead to an incorrect diagnosis of a child with hypertension.
The problem even has a name unofficially: "small cuff syndrome".
See misdiagnosis of hypertension.
Hypertension misdiagnosis common in children: Hypertension is often
misdiagnosed in adults (see misdiagnosis of hypertension), but its misdiagnosis is even more likely in children.
Some of the symptoms of hypertension that can be overlooked include chest pain, headaches, abdominal pain, etc.
See symptoms of hypertension or misdiagnosis of hypertension.
Chronic lung diseases hard to diagnose: Some of the chronic lung diseases
are difficult to diagnose.
Even the well-knowns conditions such as asthma or lung cancer often fail to be diagnosed early.
Some of the chronic lung diseases with diagnostic difficulties
include asthma (perhaps surprisingly), COPD, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, mesothelioma,
smoker's cough, AIDS-related respiratory conditions (see AIDS), chronic pneumonia, and other respiratory diseases.
Rare possibilities include diseases like psittacosis (bird-related lung infection).
See other types of chronic lung diseases.
Congestive Heart Failure: Rare Types
Rare types of medical disorders and diseases in related medical areas:
Medical news summaries about misdiagnosis of Congestive Heart Failure:
The following medical news items
are relevant to misdiagnosis of Congestive Heart Failure:
General Misdiagnosis Articles
Read these general articles with an overview of misdiagnosis issues.
About misdiagnosis:
When checking for a misdiagnosis of Congestive Heart Failure
or confirming a diagnosis of Congestive Heart Failure,
it is useful to consider what other
medical conditions might be possible misdiagnoses or other alternative
conditions relevant to diagnosis.
These alternate diagnoses of Congestive Heart Failure may already have
been considered by your doctor or may need to be considered as possible
alternative diagnoses or candidates for misdiagnosis of Congestive Heart Failure.
For a general overview of misdiagnosis issues for all diseases,
see Overview of Misdiagnosis.
